This study assessed internal and external quality assurance practices as determinants of institutional effectiveness of public universities in Cross River State, Nigeria. The study was intended to address two objectives, from which two null hypotheses were developed. Based on the descriptive survey research design, the census approach was used to study the whole population of 157 administrators (Deans and head of departments) in the two public universities in the study area. Quality Assurance Practices and Institutional Effectiveness Questionnaire (QAPIEQ) was the instrument utilized to collect data. Five experts validated the instrument while an overall Cronbach reliability rating of. 853 was obtained. Data were gathered from 132 respondents due to restrictions that prevented data collection from the targeted 157 respondents. Multiple regression analysis with R studio software version 3.6.0 was used to test the two null hypotheses at the .05 alpha level. Internal quality assurance processes have a substantial influence on university institutional effectiveness (R=.924, R2=.846, F=120.851, p.05), according to the findings. External quality assurance measures were also shown to have a significant influence (R=.792, R2=.782, F=79.100, p.05) on university institutional effectiveness. Based on these findings, it was concluded that internal and external quality assurance processes are critical components that can increase university institutional performance. It was suggested, among other things, that the Nigerian Institutions Commission (NUC) should ensure that accreditation visits are made to universities at least twice, in each academic session to verify the quality of courses and programs.
Keywords: External quality assurance, Practices, Public Universities, Quality, Quality Assurance, institutional effectiveness, internal quality assurance
